Etinosa Godwin Oliha (born 13 June 1998) is an Italian professional boxer who competes in the middleweight division. He held the International Boxing Organisation (IBO) middleweight title from 2023 to 2024.
Early and personal life Etinosa Oliha was born on 13 June 1998 in Turin to Patricia and Murphy Oliha, both of whom immigrated from Nigeria. When he was five years old, the family moved to Asti. Oliha has an older brother and two older sisters.
After his school education, Oliha completed an apprenticeship as an electrician. He lives in Asti.
Amateur career At the age of 14, Oliha took part in an event organized by the city where the sports clubs from Asti presented themselves together. Here he came into contact with Skull Boxe Canavesana and Davide Greguoldo. Oliha was thrilled and joined the club, while Greguoldo took over his training. To this day he is a member of the club and Gregualdo is his coach.
In his amateur career, Oliha amassed 59 fights, including 45 wins, 12 losses and two draws. 2016 Italian youth champion. His personal highlight was the gold medal at the Italian championship.
Professional career Oliha began his professional career at the age of 19. He continues to be coached by his amateur trainer Davide Greguoldo.
On 10 February 2020, he defeated his compatriot Carlo de Novellis and became Italian middleweight champion. He successfully defended the championship twice before relinquishing it to fight Sofiane Khati for the vacant International Boxing Organization (IBO) Mediterranean middleweight title. He defeated the Frenchman by retirement in the fifth round.
Agon Sports & Events invited Oliha as a sparring opponent for its middleweight and super middleweight boxers. Oliha convinced the AGON management with his performance and signed a contract with the Berlin boxing promotion in November 2022. In his stable debut on 24 February 2023, he defeated Rafael Amarillas Ortiz and became Intercontinental Middleweight Champion of the WBO.
IBO middleweight champion Five months later, on 1 July 2023, the IBO's Intercontinental Championship against the Chilean Julio Álamos, originally planned by AGON, was declared a world title fight by the IBO, because the reigning champion Gennady Golovkin had relinquished his world title. Oliha defeated Alamos on points and was thus the Berlin boxing stable's first world title holder. With his victory he also closed the gap between Italian world champions in the upper weight classes. Prior to this, Giovanni De Carolis had been most recently the world title holder of the GBU and WBA, who handed over both titles to Tyron Zeuge in November 2016.
In his first title defense, Oliha faced Faton Vukshinaj on 25 November 2023. He won the bout by unanimous decision.
On 14 September 2024, Oliha faced German Alexander Pavlov in a bid of an IBF middleweight eliminator in AGON Sport Park in Berlin, Germany. He won via third round technical knockout.
Oliha fought undefeated Aaron McKenna for the vacant IBF middleweight title at 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland, on 8 August 2026, losing by unanimous decision.
Professional boxing record
ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationNotes23Loss22–1Aaron McKennaUD128 Aug 202622Win22–0Ivan NjegacTKO3 (6)12 Sep 202521Win21–0Alexander PavlovTKO3 (12), 14 Sep 202420Win20–0Ismaël SeckUD106 Apr 202419Win19–0Faton VukshinajUD1225 Nov 202318Win18–0Julio ÁlamosUD121 Jul 202317Win17–0Rafael Amarillas OrtizTKO6 (12), 24 Feb 202316Win16–0Sofiane KhatiRTD5 (10), 10 Jul 202215Win15–0Francesco LezziUD102 Jul 202114Win14–0Bogdan MalinovićTKO2 (6)19 Mar 202113Win13–0Francesco LezziPTS65 Dec 202012Win12–0Andrea RonconUD1021 Aug 202011Win11–0Carlo De NovellisUD1021 Feb 202010Win10–0Santos MedranoKO3 (6)20 Sep 20199Win9–0Ricardo Pompeo MellonePTS65 Jul 20198Win8–0Jorge OrtizTKO3 (6)14 Jun 20197Win7–0Petru ChiochiuPTS625 Apr 20196Win6–0Fabio MastromarinoUD88 Dec 20185Win5–0Srečko JanjićTKO2 (6)27 Oct 20184Win4–0Giuseppe RauseoPTS614 Sep 20183Win3–0Mladen JovanovićKO3 (6)15 Jul 20182Win2–0Vadim GurauTKO4 (6), 22 Jun 20181Win1–0Jean Marc Yao AssoumanPTS619 May 2018
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